The Piedmontese company Venchi, one of the standard bearers of high quality made in Italy chocolate and ice cream, has launched a capital increase of the subsidiary Venchi Greater China Ltd. of Hong Kong of 9 million euros, aimed at strengthening the expansion plans in Asia. The expansion should also and above all take place through the opening of directly controlled single-brand stores, such as those that already exist in Italy, where there are about fifty, with another fifty stores scattered throughout the rest of the world, in international capitals such as New York, Singapore, Beijing, London and Hong Kong.
Venchi has been growing by double digits for the past 20 years and the investment plan provides for the doubling of the stores in 5 years, with a particular focus precisely on the Asian region, especially in Japan and China. Indeed, China is confirmed as a priority market for Made in Italy exports. In 2017, our exports to China reached 13,5 billion euros, marking a +22% compared to the previous year. Just the food sector recorded one of the best performances, with a growth of 17,2% compared to 2016 and was close to 407 million euros. Made in Italy sales to the country of the Dragon are expected to grow further also in the three-year period 2019-2021 (+8,8% on average per year). The prospects are even brighter for food: an average annual increase of 9,1% is in fact expected in the same period of time.
Venchi's effort is also largely supported by Unicredit e SACE SIMEST, the export and internationalization hub of the CDP Group. In detail, SIMEST participated in the capital increase – directly and through the Venture Capital Fund managed on behalf of the Ministry of Economic Development – investing a total of 4 million euros and assuming a stake of 44,4 per cent in the company; while SACE guaranteed a 4,5 million euro loan, linked to the capital increase, disbursed by Unicredit to Venchi.
"In this operation Unicredit and SACE SIMEST have put their professionalism, their experience and their commitment to support our needs - he declared Daniele Ferrero, president and managing director of Venchi -. It is essential, for dynamic companies like ours, to make use of the country system and the collaboration of financial partners who, through their solutions and their orientation towards results, are able to provide companies with the right support to grow and continue to invest in the world " .
